Re: CHAT: postcodes

Roger Mills scripsit:

> Now, now.  Last time I was there (1985) the place was quite up-to-date.
> I wonder if _anyplace however tiny_ in the US still uses a central exchange
> with real operators?
No, not one is left of all the house of Saul.   The last manual exchange
(in Bryant Pond, Maine) shut down in 1983 (a few sources say 1975).
There may be surviving single-loop systems -- basically a community-wide
party line, with an operator to connect to the rest of the world.

There continue to be several hundred non-dialable points, however; places
that are so remote they have no local service, and are served directly
by a trunk line.  In essence, each such customer is his own operator.

For information (about ten years old), see
http://yarchive.net/phone/inward_operator.html (scroll down to the
third article).

--
John Cowan
        jcowan@reutershealth.com
                I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin